News Round-Up
8 May 2024
In a surprise to no one, the King of Asante in Ghana says he'd like to keep the golden relics loaned to him by the British Museum. Looks like they're going the same way as the Benin bronzes, says Mike Wells.
Slavery and colonialism did not make Britain rich, and may even have made the nation poorer, a new study from the Institute of Economic Affairs has found.
Is it time for St. George to stand aside for St. George Floyd? Or is there another makeover of England's patron saint that would make him acceptable to the professionally offended and anti-English crowd?
The historian William Dalrymple pompously suggested Kemi Badenoch should "learn some history" after she denied Britain's economic success was due to white privilege. The historian of empire, Nigel Biggar, begs to differ.
If anything, Britain is owed a debt for its imperial and colonial endeavours, argues Daniel Hannan. "Our species benefited hugely from the industrial revolution, the abolition of the slave trade and the defeat of Nazism."
Cambridge University is seeking to 'decolonise the dodo' by hiring a PhD student to delve into the imperial connections of specimens, highlight racial ideas, violent colonial activities and resource exploitation.
With the world turning full-circle, post-World War Two concepts of human rights, equality and local agency are exiting the international stage. The WHO's 'vaccine equity' is veiled colonialism, says Dr David Bell.
The first museum to display the Benin bronzes in 1897 became the first to 'give them back' in 2022. But the truth is these 'returned' historical artefacts are vanishing into the ether.
A study has found that, with one or two exceptions, individuals in former colonies have a favourable opinion of their former coloniser. This runs counter to the general thrust of 'post-colonial studies'.
The peoples of the old Empire have colonised England in reverse, declares a poem on the London Underground. Is it really helpful to rub the natives' noses in it like this, asks Steven Tucker.
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